The darkest Star
by LeontillyBalambgirl
Summary: are somethings fate?can hate become love?A victim of the vicious rivalry between 2 men,Rinoa finds herself caught up in the life of a troubled,violent stranger,Squall.can she melt his heart of ice?Will she be his salvation,or will he be her downfall?AUsxr
1. Mistaken identity part 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Final fantasy 8 or the characters or locations. _

_A/N: well this is kind of an idea I had for another Au squinoa.title and plot a little inspired by a song title the darkest star. The summary isn't great but basically it is a bit more serious than a few of my others. Basically Squall and Seifer have rival gangs. They have a long standing rivalry and both have reputations for being violent and psychotic lol.And Rinoa gets caught up with Squalls gang and well things develop between them. And there is two things I want to say now before I start the first being, yes squall is a tad evil in this as are Irvine and zell but please don't flame me and say it is not very character like as this is extremely Au and they are extreme in it. Also this might get moved to an M at a later date but if it does it will be down to violence and language not lemon. But we'll see. But oh yeh also I have other stories on the go but well I can keep them all on relative quick updates so its okay. Well anyway please read the first chapter and give me feedback as if people like this fic idea I will continue it and if not I will concentrate on my others and scrap this. Thanks you guys.this is only an introduction as in the next chapter. i promise it does get better . please read on xx  
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-**Mistaken Identity pt 1-**

**R**inoa Heartilly looked confusedly up and down the street and then back down at the piece of paper she was holding in her hands, squinting at it in the light of the weak streetlight above her.

_**Golden Sun Hotel**_

_**77 Main street, Deling city**_

According to the directions she had followed she should be on Main street right now. But she didn't see any hotels. In fact she didn't see anything. This couldn't be Main street because it wasn't every Main at all, it was an empty deserted street alongside a single lane road with absolutely no cars on. She was starting to get pretty scared. It was late and it was dark. Every small sound she heard made her feel uneasy. She reached into her bag and pulled out her mobile phone, figuring she could just call the hotel and ask for directions. But as soon as she switched the tiny pink thing on the screen flashed the words 'low battery. Please recharge' before switching itself off again.

"piece of junk" Rinoa whined as she threw it back into her bag. "What am I gonna do now?"

She decided to head for one end of the street, hoping it would lead somewhere. She picked her bags up from her feet and slung them over her shoulder, starting to walk down the street.

'_Stupid, you're stupid Rinoa' _she thought _'Wandering the streets in a new city at 11 o clock at night. Genius'_

But suddenly something startled her. She could swear she could hear the sound of footsteps behind her. Resisting the urge to glance behind her, she increased her pace, her footsteps quickening with her heartbeat. But the footsteps increased in pace too which caused her to became so scared she started to run. Finally glancing behind her, she saw that there was now some one running behind her. She wasn't paranoid, she really was being chased. Her assailant, although she could only see his form silhouetted against the streetlights, was clearly a young man, with wide shoulders and spiked hair which added a few inches to his height.

Unfortunately for Rinoa while she was taking in this details, she was not looking where she was going and a broken paving stone caused her to trip and fall, her forehead smacking on the cold pavement. She instantly felt dizzy from the impact, but she knew she had to keep running. She forced herself up, but as she did she felt someone grab her from behind, wrapping both hands around her waist, and dragging her to the sidewalk. She struggled and fought but the person was ridiculously strong. A few seconds later a sleek black sports car pulled up, driven by a man with a long dark ponytail. The guy who had hold of her opened one of the back doors and forced Rinoa in. He then shut the door, went back to where she had dropped all her stuff, picked the bags up and then threw them in the back with her, before walking around and climbing in the passenger seat.

"What's going on. Who are you guys?" she sobbed desperately pulling at the door handle trying to open it "let me go!"

"The doors Locked babe, you're wasting your time" said the guy who had been driving the car. Rinoa noticed he spoke with a hint of a southern accent

"Let me go" she screeched as loud as she could. The guy driving the car covered his ears and hissed "man that hurt. Shut that bitch up"

Nodding to his accomplice, the spikey haired guy who had first grabbed Rinoa reached back and elbowed her in the side of the heard, making everything go black….

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When Rinoa finally came around she had no clue where she was. Blinking a few times she saw she was in what looked like some kind of converted old warehouse. But as she tried to stretch her arms and legs, she came to realise that one of her wrists was handcuffed to the top of a white metal radiator attached to the wall. She tried to move it, but it did her no good at all. She was completely petrified. What the hell was going on here? Who were the guys who had grabbed her, what were they planning to do to her, what had they already done to her? Were they going to rape her, torture her, kill her? She was filled with a horrible uncertainty.

"Help me. Let me go" she screamed as loudly as she could through her tears.

She heard footsteps approaching the room and the door swung open, allowing 3 people to walk into the room. It was the two men who had kidnapped her but they were accompanied by a young woman with a slender and petite frame.

Rinoa now had a much better view of the two men as well. The spiky haired man was blonde, with light blue eyes and a very distinctive and interesting tattoo on the side of his face, and the other was a much taller man, with handsome features and a long brown ponytail, topped by a cowboy hat that matched his long trench coat. The young woman wore a oddly bright yellow dress under a black leather jacket and with black leather boots that reached her knees.

"Hello Lara" said the tall guy dressed like a cowboy. Rinoa winced as she noticed he was holding a large shotgun in one of his hands.

"L-Lara? I'm not…."

The man swiftly pulled his shotgun up and pointed it at her "Don't interrupt me. Now Lara, you listen to me and co-operate and this wont be that hard"

"I'm not Lara!" Rinoa sobbed "you've got the wrong girl!"

"Likely story" the guy scoffed. He turned to his blonde friend and said "Almasy must have her all trained up in case of this kind of situation"

"Who's Almasy? And who's Lara?" she said. She had absolutely no idea what was going on

"Nice try. But you're not fooling me" he laughed

"I'm really not Lara, please believe me. I don't even know who Lara is"

The guy rolled his eyes and the adopted a sarcastic tone "All right you're not Lara. Then let me tell you about her. Lara McAvery, Seifer Almasys girlfriend. You flew in to town from Timber tonight for a little visit to Seifer"

"That's….not true" Rinoa sobbed

"Yes, it is. We followed you from the airport" the Blonde guy chimed in in a bored tone

"Yes, I did fly in from Timber, but please, please believe me I'm not Lara McAvery and I don't know anyone called Seifer"

"This could go on forever" sighed the young girl who had perched herself on the edge of a table.

"Yeh. So drop the act Lara" cowboy guy said with a yawn "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to call your boyfriend and your going tell Seifer we have you here, I'm pretty sure he'll have a lot to say then"

"I don't know any freakin' Seifer" Rinoa screamed, finally loosing it

This seemed to piss off the tall guy who picked up the glass of water that was sitting on the table by were the young girl was and threw it at Rinoa, soaking her completely which caused her to burst into tears.

"I was actually planning to drink that Irvine" the blonde guy protested

Irvine rolled his eyes "Feel like talking yet?" he said to Rinoa.

And the charade went on for hours. The two guys would just repeatedly yell and scream at her about this Seifer person and as much as she insisted she didn't know what they were talking about, they just carried on yelling. After a very large period of time the blonde guy crossed his arms over his chest and turned to his friend "We're not getting anywhere. Maybe we should just get Squall"

Squall. Who the hell was Squall?

"Probably a good idea" Irvine said starting to head for the door "he'll get her talking sense. He'll beat it out of her if he has to" he remarked before closing the door behind him

When both men were out of the room, the girl spoke for the first time "You should have just co-operated you know. You thought those two were bad. But they're getting Squall"

"Who's Squall" Rinoa asked, broken. Probably just another person to come and abuse her.

"Kind of the leader. He's not gonna be happy" she sighed. She looked as if she was about to say something else, but stopped as she heard the sound of voices approaching the room.

The door opened and the two men from before entered with a third guy. Rinoa gasped slightly when she saw him. She was not really what she had expected. He wasn't a particularly big guy, but he was quite tall. He wore black jeans and a white shirt which had the top few buttons undone, under a black jacket. He had chestnut brown hair which finished not to far from his shoulders, and a fringe that dropped straight down in front of his face, hiding icy blue eyes and a deep scar that ran from the top of his nose to just under his left eye. He obviously didn't have time to mess around. He strode across the room, quickly shoved a tiny key into the handcuffs unlocking them, grabbed Rinoas arm and pulled her up, pushing her against the wall. He pushed her dark hair away from her face and opened his mouth to speak, but then released his grip on her, dropping her to the floor and turned to his friends.

"You freakin morons" he said, running his hands through his brown hair "You got the wrong girl!"

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_So just kind of a short introduction to the story. Would love feedback and would love to know if anyone is interested in me continuing the fic. Please review, constructive criticism always welcome, but please don't flame. But yeh I will add the new chapter (mistaken Identity part 2) soon if anyone is interested thanks guys xx_


	2. Mistaken identity part 2

_Disclaimer: I still don't own final fantasy 8._

_A/n: well hey y'all. Here is another chapter for you lovely people! Many thanks to sion883, __cheerlygal__, EmoDiva, lilnaych, chibi-san, peaches'n'cream and throttlemcnab for the reviews. Ok for once I have something **important** to say in an A/N. I have been thinking about this story and after doing all the planning it will definitely be going **M when I post chapter 3**. I am changing the rating because there is violence and language coming and well its not worth keeping it a T. the only reason I am saying this is because dunno about everyone else, but on my computer when I first come on it doesn't show me anything except k- T, so if you are reading this story and want to continue on after this chapter then either put it on an alert, or just check the M's. that's only if you want to read it lol. If people like this chapter and want me to I will continue. Thanks xx Apologies this is a repost. not much has change, but i saw loads of typos and meant to edit and del my chapter isntead. sorry sorry sorry.  
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**-Mistaken identity pt 2-**

"**T**he wrong girl?" Irvine echoed "No way Squall, we did exactly what you told us to"

"Yeh we did!" said the blonde guy, reinforcing the point.

"Evidently.." Squall said taking a few deep breaths, looking as if he was trying very hard to control his temper "..you did not. Because I have not got a damn clue who that chick over there is, but its want who you were after"

"I…I tried to tell them that" Rinoa said nervously

The guy turned around, and narrowed his eyes at her "I don't remember telling you that you were allowed to talk".

God he was mean. Really , pretty terrifying. Rinoa was way more scared of him than she had been than the other two put together. He hadn't been the one to kidnap her, or the one yelling at her, but he still scared her more. There was just something about him-something that seemed inexplicably frightening. He looked young and like an incredibly normal guy, in fact Rinoa had noticed he was bordering on being down right hot, but he just seemed…dangerous. He just had this air of coldness about him. Like the type who may be hot, but who could probably kill you in about 3 seconds. And would not hesitate to do so.

"Look I'm sorry" Irvine said "We tried, Squall"

"yeh, and failed. God, it really wasn't hard, go to the airport, grab Almasys girl. Very simple"

"Yeh…but b-be fair squall.." the blonde guy stammered. Clearly Rinoa was not the only one afraid of this guy, it looked as if his friends were too "we've never even seen Seifers girlfriend"

"I gave you a freakin description!" Squall yelled

"yeh but this girl" he said, pointing at Rinoa "looks pretty damn similar!"

"I told you Lara was tall, brown hair all that, this chick she's about 5ft tall and her hair is black"

"it was….dark" the guy said clearly running low on excuses

"you guys" the girl sighed "does it really matter that much"

"of course it matters Selphie. I give them one thing to do, one tiny freaking thing and they go and screw it up. Do you have any idea how many problems this could cause us. I mean who the hell is that girl?"

"My…my names Rinoa…and I tried to tell them I was…."

Squall turned around, and now looked extremely annoyed "ok, I already told you once. Now are you going to shut up or am I going to have to shut you up myself?"

Rinoa didn't say anything and Squall turned back to his friends. He pulled a cigarette out of a pack in his pocket, lit it and then blew a long stream of smoke out of his mouth before he said "We've got to sort this out"

"Sort what out? Look Squall we'll just dump the girl back were we found her and go after Lara another day?" Irvine offered

Squall shook his head in disbelief "You really think it's that simple, because it's actually not. What are we supposed to do about her, we can't just let her go"

"Why?" Selphie asked

"Because what if she decides she wants to go to the police with this, that'd mean…."

"I wont, I wont tell anyone!" Rinoa said quickly

Squall turned to her again "Alright look, you really don't seem to be getting this. Stop talking or I will hurt you because you're pissing me off"

"Calm down a little Squall" the blonde guy said

""Do not tell me to calm down. If it wasn't for your little mistake, I would be calm. But I'm not. Now I'm going, for five minutes. And when I get back, I expect this mess to be sorted" he said before flicking his cigarette on the floor, storming across the room and slamming the door behind him.

"that guy gets more and more psychotic every day" Irvine said, rolling his eyes "I think he's seriously lost it"

"you know we should probably sort this out before he gets back"

"Zell's right" Selphie said . She went and stood by Irvine who wrapped his arm around her shoulders, which lead Rinoa to presume that she was infact his girlfriend "he's pissed enough as it is"

"Alright, but what do we do?" Irvine asked

Rinoa was tempted to just suggest they let her go because she would swear she wouldn't tell the police or anything, but she was way too afraid to speak. That Squall guy was pretty damn terrifying.

Rinoa was too afraid and confused to keep track f time so before she knew it 5 minutes must have passed because Squall came back into the room

"You don't appear to actually have done anything" was the first thing he said

"We're not sure what to do" Selphie sighed

"If we let her go she could easily rat us out, and we don't need cops on our tails. But what else is there to do, if she's got nothing to do with Seifer she's useless to us" Irvine said

"Exactly" Squall said to Irvine "Give me your gun"

"What?"

"Your gun, give me it"

The cowboy reluctantly handed the gun over to Squall who turned around and pointed it in Rinoas direction

"Squall" Selphie jumped up "Don't you think that's a little bit extreme?"

"you guys can leave now" was all he said in response

"But Squall………"

"Now"

The 3 people hurried out of the room and Rinoa was left alone with the guy pointing a gun at her. She was going to get shot. She had been kidnapped, yelled at, threatened and now she was going to be murdered all over a case of mistaken identity. How could this guy be so cold and calm anyway? He was about to take somones life, someone who was innocent in it all.

"I'm sorry" he said raising the gun "but you know too much, you're a threat to us…"

"Wait!" Rinoa cried and much to her surprise he actually lowered the gun slightly. "I know that….I know…" Rinoa was desperately searching for the words to appeal to this guys humane side. If he had one. "I know you think I'm going to go to the police or something…but I'm not, I promise. I promise not to tell anyone ever. But please don't shoot me, I haven't done anything wrong…and I…I don't wanna die. Please" she begged before breaking into hysterical tears

"…..Fine" Squall said much to her surprise "but I'm getting you far away from here and you had better not go to the police and don't think once you get out of here you can because you're safe from me because you're not, you're never safe"

"Okay" Rinoa nodded

"Well, get up, I don't have all night" Squall said impatiently

"What about my stuff?' Rinoa asked quietly

"What?"

"My stuff, like my bags. It's kind of everything I have, I think your friends have it"

"Come here" the guy said, grabbing her by the arm and ignoring her question. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like black cloth. He folded it and covered her eyes with it, tying it like a blindfold

"W-what are you doing"

"I cant actually let you see were you are now can I, just in case you really are stupid enough to tell someone. But if you prefer I could just knock you out"

"No thank you" Rinoa said very quietly

"Alright then Lets go" she felt the guy drag her through a couple of rooms and then outside, as she suddenly felt the cold air. She was shoved into the back of a car, and then after a few minutes the car started moving at a very fast speed

"I'll drop you off at the edge of the city, then you and me are done ok?"

"Ok" Rinoa was just going to agree to everything the guy said because she really wanted to live. "Um can I ask you something?' she said very nervously

"No"

For the rest of the journey no one spoke. She was too afraid to talk and Squall was obviously not a very talkative guy. Eventually, after what felt like and eternity, the car stopped and Squall reached back and pulled the blindfold off her eyes. Glancing around Rinoa saw only a few people in the streets. It was pretty deserted and not too well lit, she could see a train station not to far away and she supposed that explained the few people in the streets at this hour. Although she actually had no idea what time it was.

They guy turned to her, his oddly attractive blue eyes full of complete seriousness and said "You are incredibly lucky I decided to let you go so I don't ever want to see you or hear from or of you ever again ok?"

Rinoa nodded. He had no worries there because she had every intention of staying far far away from this guy and forgetting everything that had happened.

He got out of the car and opened the back door, pulling Rinoa out by her arm. He then shut the door and leaned against it, folding his arms across his chest

"Now" he said, in what Rinoa had come to realise was his constant, very cold tone of voice "You're not going to the cops are you. In fact you're not telling anyone. You're going to go home get on with your simple little life and forget you ever met me, forget this whole night okay"

"yes, I will. I'll…I'll be quiet"

"Good". The next thing the guy did really shocked Rinoa. He reached out and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to him, before whispering in her ear. At first Rinoa had no idea why he would do this, but then she realised it was probably so they looked less suspicious to those few people in the streets, and no one could hear what he was saying to her. Plus for what people could see now , it was likely she was his friend or possibly even his girlfriend. It was unlikely anyone would guess he was the guy who'd just kidnapped her.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in all this" he whispered to her, for once his voice not sounding so harsh "but I am not kidding, if you do go to the police, I wont have any choice but to kill you"

Again Rinoa just nodded and he let go of her, reached into his car, pulling out her bags that his friends had taken and handed them to her. "Goodbye" he said very coldly before getting in his car, slamming the door and speeding off down the street

For a few minutes Rinoa just stood there in complete shock had all that really just happened? Had it been real and not just a twisted dream? It seemed all to unfortunate to be real. Rinoa had no idea what to do now. She had even less of a clue were she was now, she was likely somewhere on the outskirts of the town. She was screwed and she knew it. She started to wander aimlessly down the street, not wanting to stay in one place for too long. But as she walked, her thoughts were completely muddled as she tried to make sense of what had happened

'_That was the strangest group of people ever' _she thought to herself _'the girl especially. She actually seemed pretty nice considering it all, but the others…they were scary, especially that Squall guy. He was so deranged. Those guys were clearly terrified of him and there his friends'_

As Rinoa wandered down the street, a young woman stopped her. She had a very strange appearance; she was tall and thin with silver grey hair that hid a lot of her face. In a stiff, formal tone she said "Time?"

"Sorry…umm what?" Rinoa said "Oh yeh, the time" she glanced at her watch "um it's nearly 4am"

"Positive?" the woman asked

"Umm..yes definitely" Rinoa said, a little freaked out. Deling city seemed to be a city full of weirdoes.

The grey haired woman nodded and then reached out and shoved Rinoa backwards

"Hey!!" Rinoa felt herself fall backwards against someone. What the hell was going on? The person immediately grabbed both Rinoas shoulders and restrained her.

'_oh god…not again'_

"Help!" she screamed loudly but the person who had hold of her put something over her mouth. It was a piece of cloth, but it was obviously soaked in some kind of chemical or something, because as soon as it weren't near her, Rinoa felt instantly sick and dizzy. The lights in the street started to blur, and the whole street started to spin, before her eyelids went heavy and she blacked out completely.

The next thing Rinoa saw when she opened her eyes was complete darkness. Blinking a few times, her eyelashes brushed against something-she was blindfolded again. The first sensation she felt was pain. It felt as if she was being dragged up stone stairs-she could feel the coldness beneath her and feel every bump as she was pulled up each stair _'Don't tell me that psycho Squall has changed his mind and sent someone to kill me afterall'_

She felt the movement stop, and she was pulled up to her feet, before someone yanked the blindfold off her eyes. She soon saw it was a young man, tall with fairly dark skin and dark hair.

"Good, you're awake" he said with a menacing grin

The guy had some sort of large stick or pole attached to the side of his belt, but what concerned Rinoa more was that he had a knife in one hand. He pressed the cold metal against her back and walked her towards a door way.

"Don't try anything, that'd be stupid ya know" he warned

Whatever they had used to knock her out was still having some effect on her, as her vision was still blurred and the guys voice was slightly muffled. She was petrified. What the hell was going on tonight? This had to be some sort of nightmare. To be kidnapped once was unbelievable but twice in one night was damn near impossible. But she could feel the metal of the knife on her back and the grip this guy had on her arm and she was starting to get the sickening feeling this was all real.

The guy stopped and pushed open the door in front of them and revealed what actually looked like a very well furbished bedroom. It was spacious and decorated in deep reds and golds and sitting in the middle of the room, with his feet casually propped on a desk and watching TV was a young man with short blonde hair. The immediate thing that caught Rinoas eye about this man was that he had a scar that looked almost identical to the one that Squall guy had, but this mans ran in the opposite direction.

He glanced over and as soon as he saw them he leaped up out of his chair

"Raijin, what the hell?" He yelled at the guy holding Rinoa

"oh man, this is amazing ya know"

"Who the hell is this?"

"Well see, I was just out and about ya know and I saw her and….."

"Get to the point. Who is she"

The guy pushed Rinoa into the room and she feel over, now at the feet of this blonde man.

"You're not gonna believe our luck" Raijin said "but this…this is Leonharts girlfriend!"

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**Omg, how unlucky Rinoa! What are the chances!!! And Squall is such a jackass! Hahahah. Lil inside info Seifer is much much worse! If people want me to continue I will, just let me know what you think of the chapter and I f you have any objections to it changing to M or if you will still read it if it does. Thanks ! **

_**Leontilly xx**_


	3. from bad to worse

_Disclaimer: guess_

_A/N: well hey! Yep another chapter. So Poor unlucky Rinoa has just got nabbed by seifer. Ouch. Well as usual thanks to my reviewers for chapter 2 throttlemcnab, sion0083,__cheerlygal__, chibi-san, lilnaych, EmoDiva, Leonharted,cerulean crystal,Burning phoenix X-7, and valentine20. You all rock! Well hope you'll enjoy the chapter let me know what you think_

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**-From bad to worse-**

"Well Well Well" the blonde laughed "isn't this a nice surprise"

"Who are you?" Rinoa said weakly. This was just horrific, this was all too much.

Who's girlfriend was she supposedly now?

"I'll be asking the questions" the guy snapped, before folding his arms over his chest and looking at Rinoa "so you're Leonharts girlfriend. Not surprising, you look like his type"

"I don't…I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know any…."

"Sure, likely story Princess" he said dragging her up off the floor and throwing her on the bed against the wall "I think I'll call your boyfriend…see what he thinks of this whole situation"

"Please.." Rinoa whimpered "Just let me go…I'm not who you think I am!"

"Shut up" the guy hissed as he took out a cell phone and started dialling. He put the phone up to his ear and then said "It's ringing. Watch closely girl…'cause this gonna be fun"……….

Squall laid down on the bed, just about to get about one hour of peace, when his cell phone started vibrating. He sat up, annoyed and glanced at his watch.

"5am. Who the fuck calls at 5am? Morons" he picked up the phone and flipped it open "What?" he snapped

"Morning Leonhart"

Squall immediately knew the voice. The smugness, the arrogance. It was unmistakable.

"Seifer Almasy. What the hell are you calling for"

"Oh what, cant I just call to say Hi" the voice n the other end of the line said sarcastically

"Goodbye Seifer"

"Wait…I wouldn't hang up if I were you. I think there's something you should know.

"And what's that?" God did he hate Seifer Almasy

"I have your lovely little girlfriend"

"Excuse me?"

"Your girlfriend. She's right here" Squall wasn't entirely sure what Seifer did, but he heard a girl scream loudly "that was her screaming" seifer said sounding as if he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Nice try Seifer. But see I don't have a girlfriend. So lord only knows who that girl was"

"You're lying to me. See I have it on very good authority that this is your girl, sweet of you to deny it though. But you were seen with her, tonight"

"Tonight…I…" suddenly it hit Squall. He had actually only been out where he could have been seen with one girl that night. surely it couldn't be... "So this girl of mine" squall said into the phone "What's her name"

"I would think you would your own girlfriends name. or have you slept with so many girls now that you don't even bother taking names anymore"

"far as I know, that could be any girl. So what's her name?"

Squall heard Seifer say "what's your name bitch". He didn't hear the girls response but then Seifer said into the phone "Rinoa"

"this is fucking unbelievable" Squall laughed. This could not be actually happening. The girl his friends had mistaken for Seifers girlfriend was now being mistaken for his girlfriend. How had one tiny girl managed to cause so much trouble? If she was to tell Seifer how she really knew Squall, there would be hell to pay. "Shes not my girlfriend Seifer. Your friends probably did see me with her, but she's not my girlfriend"

"That's what she said" Seifer sounded bored "except she denied even knowing you"

That confused Squall slightly. Why would she deny even knowing him? Unless…Seifer tended to usually address Squall by his second name Leonhart, and Rinoa only knew his first name. It was also likely that Seifer had avoided giving his own name, so Rinoa wouldn't have actually made any connection of what was going on here.

"Bottom line Seifer, she's nothing to do with me. Looks like you wasted your time"

"Alright. Then you don't care what I do to her then." Seifer said evilly "Which is good…because I have some ideas"

Then the line went dead.

Squall could hardly believe any of this. It was just too unrealistic. The same girl. The girl who had now managed to land herself in the middle of one hell of a rivalry.

Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy, life time rivals, enemies and practically the two worst people in Deling city to get involved with. And this girl had got involved with both. What was he supposed to do? Just leave her there? Seifer would kill her for sure, but were Squall was just going to shoot the girl, Seifer was more the type to draw it out, torture her for his own amusement.

But more importantly, when he did kill her blame would more than likely fall on Squall and Seifer would win, he'd have the upper hand. And Squall could not let that happen. Besides if anyone was killing this girl, it was him for all the trouble she had caused in his life. He knew he only had one choice, he had to stop Seifer.

Heading out to his car through the abandoned warehouse he and his friends had converted he encountered Irvine and Selphie

"Where you going man?" Irvine said

"You wouldn't even believe it. That stupid fucking Rinoa chick has gone and got herself kidnapped by Almasy. He thought she was my girlfriend.. Now he knows shes not he's decided to kill her"

"so..?" Irvine said

"I can't let him do that"

"but…you were going to kill her…and know you want to save her" Selphie asked confusedly

"I'm not going to save her, I'm going to stop him. No way is he winning this one…"

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Seifer put down the phone and turned to Rinoa "Wait here" he said before going outside to talk to his friends. Rinoa could faintly here what they were saying

"She's not even his girlfriend you moron" she heard the guy say

"no way Seifer, we saw them together"

Seifer. The name echoed in Rinoas mind. Seifer? This guy was Seifer Almasy? This was too unbelievable.

"Well she's nothing to with him" Seifer said "they both said so"

"What are you going to do now?"

"haven't decided. Have a little fun I think"

"But what if Leonhart shows up? What if he was bluffing?"

"I don't think he was, but if he does I don't really care, I'm not afraid of that pretty boy"

"Am not so sure ya know…"

"Fine" Rinoa heard Seifer sigh "If you're so concerned, you go keep watch". Then he came back in the room and slammed the door behind him then locked it.

"Now" he said "What to do with you"

"L-let me go?"

Seifer just laughed. 'That's funny. Why would I let you go when I could have some fun?"

Rinoa was seriously disturbed and did not want to find out what this guys idea of fun was. She could think of only one thing to do and that was stall him.

"Y-your girlfriend, she's Lara right?"

"How do you know that" Seifer said angrily, grabbing her by the throat

"Someone…someones after her"

"And who might that be" he said, tightening his grip

So squall had told her not to tell anyone, but she had no choice if it might save her life

"His name….was Squall and he had some friends….Irvine and someone …."

"And yet you denied knowing him…"

"What? No….I…"

Seifer slapped her across the face with the back of his hand "I'm so sick of you"

From somewhere out of the depths of his long trench coat, he produced a silver blade which glistened menacingly in the light.

He took the sharp metal and slashed it across her stomach. Rinoa screamed loudly and dropped to the floor. She could feel the blood dripping through her top from the gash and pain soared through her body. This guy knew what he was doing. It was deep enough to hurt like hell but not deep enough to be fatal, it was likely she would now just slowly bleed to death. She felt herself go cold and start to shake as Seifer grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up, taking the blade and running it down the side of her face. Why was he doing this? Why didn't he just kill her and get it over with? Rinoa was really beginning to wish she'd let Squall shoot her. It would have been quicker and much less painful

"So" the guy laughed "isn't this fun"

Fun? This was his idea of fun? This guy was sick, twisted and sadistic.

"Why are you doing this?" Rinoa sobbed still clutching her hand to the wound on her stomach

"I already told you…fun" he grinned "question is…." he pushed her back down onto the bed "what do we do next"

"Let me go" Rinoa said weakly. She couldn't take much more of this. If she had thought the first lot of people who had take her were bad, they were nothing compared to this guy.

"Sure. that's going to happen" he laughed again. He walked over to her and with one quick movement pinned her to the bed using all his strength. And he was strong. Way to strong for Rinoa to even consider trying to fight him off. She wasn't dumb, she knew exactly what this guy planned to do to her. This was going to be absolute hell. She would quite frankly rather have been killed than go through what she knew she was about to go through. She closed her eyes tight and tried to block out what was happening, almost leave her own body. She felt Seifer slide his hand up the inside of her leg and she shivered at the cruelness of his touch. Why was this happening to her? Why was she so unlucky? He slid his hand up and grabbed the top of her jeans, forcing them open. Instinctively, and being able to think of no other thing to do she reached up and scraped her nails down Seifers face, causing blood to trickle downwards.

"Stupid Bitch" he yelled, grabbing her hand and pushing her fingers all the way back. Rinoa felt the bones in her fingers snap and break and it hurt like hell, but she was too petrified to scream. She felt as if she had no voice, no defence.

Seifer grabbed both her wrists and pinned them above her head. But then there was a loud knocking on the door and someone called "Seifer!"

"I'm busy" he called back

"But.."

"I'm busy!" he repeated

"Help me" Rinoa screamed, hoping the person outside might help her. But again, this just made Seifer angry and he grabbed her by the throat and hissed "shut the fuck up" before hitting her across the side of the face. That final hit made Rinoa feel slightly dizzy and her vision started to blur a little. But she could still feel everything. Unfortunately. She felt Seifer rip open the buttons of the blouse she was wearing, and he ran his fingers up her stomach, which blood was still dripping from. Every time he touched her she felt cheap, disgusting and dirty and eventually she just gave up inside. Guys like this always got what they wanted.

But suddenly there was the sound of the door across the room swinging open and someone said

"I'm sorry. Am I interrupting something"

The voice was full of sarcasm but Rinoa recognised something in it. That cold, hard edge to it was so familiar…Forcing her eyes open and blinking through the pain and tears she looked over to the doorway and saw that the person standing there was non other than Squall.

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_My my my Seifer is a bit of a bastard really. Poor Rinoa spose shes lucky squall has moderately good timing. I feel for Rinoa, I love her, and really this only happened so you can see yeh squall is bad but seifer is worse!!!but I like Rinoa, so nothing this bad happens to her again. Hehe._

_Ok I just wanna clarify, this is not Seifer bashing, I just prefer him as a villain.I know he was not this evil in the game but…Au! Anywho so now squall is there. What will happen next. So let me know if you liked the chapter. I will continue if people want me to much love _

_Leontilly xx_


	4. The Lesser of two evils

_Disclaimer: the usual_

_A/n: Mucho thanks to my lovely reviewers of last chapter achoo111, throttlemcnab, cheerlygal, chibi-san, cerulean crystal, EmoDiva, Lilnaych and halo1209. You guys rock. Well here is another chapter._

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**-The lesser of two evils-**

**S**quall? What on earth was he doing here? Now Rinoa really was confused. Seifer finally got off her, and stood up, fixing his coat.

"Squall Leonhart." he said with a laugh "It's been a while."

Squall was...Squall Leonhart? The guy Seifer had just kept calling 'Leonhart' was actually Squall?? Rinoa tried to get it to all make sense in her head, but it wouldn't. Squall had kidnapped her because he thought she was Seifers girlfriend, and then Seifer had done the same when he thought she was Squalls girlfriend? Both these guys were pretty twisted, and Rinoa figured they must really, really hate each other.

"Yeh, I guess it has." Squall said, before blowing a long stream of smoke from his cigarette.

"But to tell you the truth…I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Yeh, I can see that." was all he said.

Rinoa was amazed. Was he just going to stand there? Wasn't he going to help her?

"See, what I'm wondering, Leonhart, is why you're here. Come to save your little whore?"

"Nope. Couldn't care less what you do with her. That is if you have any unbroken bones left when I'm done with you."

"Oh, so you've come for a fight?" Seifer laughed "Fine". With one swift motion, he turned and grabbed the knife he had left on the table, picked it up and pointed it in Squalls direction.

But much to Rinoas surprise Squall didn't even flinch. He dropped his cigarette and stamped it out, before shrugging his shoulders and saying "Okay"

Seifer lunged for him with the knife, but Squall quickly grabbed his arm and pushed it back, sending the knife clattering to the floor. Squall aimed a few quick punches that connected with Seifers jaw, then one that got him straight in the stomach, causing him to stumble backwards.

"you're loosing it Seifer."

From what Rinoa could see, although Seifer was taller and broader, Squall seemed to be the better fighter of the two, probably because he was quick and precise.

Seifer took a few steps back and grabbed something from by the side of the bed. It was a long silver blade attached to what looked like the barrel and handle of a gun.

He swung the long blade, the tip now inches from Squalls nose. Quickly Squall ducked, missing the blade, but that was were he made his mistake.

Seifer quickly turned the blade, and hit Squall in the side of the head with the handle, which caused him to fall to the floor.

"Son of a bitch" he muttered, forcing himself up, but as he id, Seifer kneed him in the side of the face and he fell backwards again. All of this was hell for Rinoa to watch. She hated violence and blood, and there'd been plenty already. And she hated Squall. But she hated Seifer more so it was hell for her to watch him now 'win' this sick fight. What was he going to do? Kill Squall and then just go back to violating her? At least if Squall was alive, evil as he was, he might somehow stop it happening.

Seifer raised his blade in the air and said "How about I give you another scar to match that one pretty boy"

Acting instinctively, Rinoa forced herself up off the bed, despite the fact she was now weak, dizzy and in immense pain, and delivered a very weak kick to the back of his legs. It didn't hurt him at all, but it did distract him. His blade dropped to the ground, but unfortunately for Rinoa, before she could get out of his reach he grabbed some of her hair and pulled her up by it. He dragged her towards him and Rinoa literally felt as if he was going to pull her hair out. He pulled her to him and said "I am going to make you wish you were never fucking born", before twisting her arm behind her back and slamming her face first into a wall. But after a few seconds, she felt him release his grip on her, as Squall grabbed him and pulled him off her. He now had Seifers blade in one of his hands. He pushed Seifer to the floor and took the blade and ran it straight down through Seifers hand, pinning it to the floor. When he pulled the blade out again it was dripping with blood, and just seeing it made Rinoa feel sicker then she already did. Seifer, yelled out with a low cry of pain and grabbed his hand as blood poured from it. Squall then took the heavy blade and hit Seifer round the side of the face. When he doubled over in pain, Squall kicked him the stomach until he dropped flat to the floor, out cold. But it only took a few seconds before Seifer started to come around. He slowly sat up, now leaning slumped against a wall.

"What the fuck" he muttered

"Looks like I win" Squall said, lighting up another cigarette.

"this isn't over, Leonhart"

"it is for now" Squall crouched down so he was face to face with Seifer "Stay away from me, and my friends, or you'll regret it"

"I'm not afraid of you." Seifer spat.

"Then you're very stupid." Squall hissed. He took the cigarette he had been smoking and stubbed the end of it on Seifers face. Seifer yelled out in pain as the hot ash burned his skin. After what must have been at least 10 or 15 seconds he finally dropped the cigarette and then rather violently kicked Seifer in the face, knocking him out completely. Rinoa had never seen such outwardly violent behaviour in her life. But part of her couldn't help but think that maybe Seifer deserved it.

Squall walked over to where she was cowering over by the wall and said "you have caused so much fuckin trouble do you know that?"

"I…I'm sorry" was all Rinoa could think to say.

Squall sighed and shook his head "We should get you out of here."

Rinoa hesitated slightly. Did she really want to go anywhere with this guy? She had seen what he was capable of, plus he'd already tried to kill her. But what other choice did she have. Sure he was Evil, but he was the lesser of two evils. She tried to stand up, but as soon as she did complete dizziness took over and she fell back down to the floor and her vision started to blur.

She heard Squall mutter something under his breath and then the next thing she knew, he bent down, wrapped her arms around his neck and picked her up. Rinoa realised he must actually be pretty strong, stronger than he actually looked. Without saying anything to her he carried her outside and put her in the backseat of his car. Was he actually…helping her?

He then got in the front, and started the car. And in the silence, Rinoa actually had a chance to think of everything that had happened to her. And she started to cry, the tears sliding down her cheeks and mixing with the blood from the cut on the side of her face. It had been the worst night of her life, and probably as long as she lived, there wouldn't be a worse night. She had been beaten, abused and was coming close to death. She wasn't even sure if she was going to live. Rinoa was no doctor, but she was pretty sure she must have lost a lot of blood by now.

She glanced forward through her tears and looked at the guy driving the car. He was expressionless, just a cold, blank stare. But if not for him, she would be dead. Ironically someone who had originally been a threat….was now her only salvation.

She felt herself slipping into unconsciousness, but before she did she muttered "thank you"

And before she went completely out, and everything went black, she heard that the only response she was given was

"Whatever."

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_Well weel, Seifer got his didn't he heeheeheh. I will do a new chapter soon if y'all want me to. Next chapter Squall has no choice but to take her back and help her a little…although he is still less than friendly………hope you liked it xx_


	5. Trouble

_Disclaimer: don't own final fantasy. Sigh_

_a/n: many hellos. Another chapter. Whoopeee. Well not really hahah.ok so squall is going to help her huh?hmm…._

_Well this chapter covers a bit more time than the others and we see a little more of peoples characters. Anyway many thanks to last chapters reviewers lionhearted, cerulean crystal, EmoDiva, throttlemcnab, Anglewings08, chibi-san, cheerlygal, coquettish siren, lilnaych and fair as Sebastian. You all rock, and hope everyone enjoys the chapter. J_

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**- Trouble**-

**R**inoa flicked her eyes open, not recognising her surroundings at all.

"Where am I?" she said weakly, but looking around she saw there was nobody in the room. She tried to sit up, but her stomach hurt too much. She was just amazed she was still alive. Glancing around, she saw it was nearing dawn now.

"hey" she called out a little louder, hoping someone would hear her "Hey? What's going on?"

A few seconds later a girl came running into the room. Wasn't it…that Selphie girl?

"you're awake" she said from the doorway "Wait here!"

Wait there? It was not like Rinoa was in a position to go anywhere. After a few minutes she heard footsteps approach the room, and assumed Selphie had come back. But it wasn't Selphie. It was Squall.

"You? You again…?"

"Charming" he said, rolling his eyes.

"No…No…I just…What's going on?"

"We need to do something about that" he said fairly blankly, indicating the cut across her stomach.

But as soon as his fingers touched her skin, she pulled her legs up and curled up in a defensive position. She couldn't help it, it just came naturally to her.

"Are you deliberately difficult, or just naturally annoying?" he said irritated.

"I'm…I'm scared…" She whispered

Squall rolled his amazingly nice eyes again. "Scared huh? You want to hear something really scary. In about an hour, you'll be dead. See, if you don't let me do something soon, you'll bleed to death."

Rinoa didn't stay anything. She was petrified. Squall was so…intimidating.

He stood up and shrugged. "Alright, bleed to death then." he said, heading for the door.

"no wait.." she said weakly "please help me…"

Squall sat back down and placed his hand on the cut across her stomach. As soon as he touched her, her skin seemed to tingle for some reason. She didn't really know why, but it probably didn't help that this guy was completely gorgeous.

"this is pretty deep" he commented "you're lucky you're still breathing."

"Only because of you." she muttered "that guy, Seifer, would he honestly have just killed me?"

"Yes" he said without hesitation. He put some kind of liquid onto a tissue and wiped it over the cut. It was cold and stung like hell, but she chose not to say anything. He had already made it pretty clear that he had no problem just letting her die. She was just lucky he was helping her.

"Thank you, for saving me."

"I didn't really have a choice. I did it to stop Seifer, not to help you."

This guy, he was seriously harsh.

"Well, you still helped so.."

"Let me see your hands"

Not really knowing why, Rinoa stretched out her hands.

"Your fingers are broken." he said non too sympathetically.

He left the room and came back a few seconds later with what looked like bandages. He bandaged up her fingers, and then the cut on her stomach..

He then brushed her hair away from her face and pulled her by her arms so she was sitting up.

He ran his fingers down the length of the cut on her face. "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah, a lot."

"It doesn't look to deep. I don't think it'll scar. Luckily." he said "What else did he do to you?"

"W-what?"

"Seifer. What did he do. I know you probably don't want to talk about, but I need to know if he did anything else otherwise I cant help you."

Rinoa shook her head "Nothing much. Just…knocked me around a lot, you know."

" I can see that." he said, touching the bruises all down one side of her face.

"But, it's better than what he was going to do."

Squall shook his head "Just don't think about it."

He took his hands away from her face and went to stand up but when he did, she immediately felt herself fall forward.

"Hey, " Squall said catching her "Careful."

"S-sorry." she said, feeling very dizzy

"I don't think you can go anywhere yet. You lost a lot of blood. Maybe you should just rest up here for a while."

"Do you mind?"

"I suppose not." he sighed "but as soon as you're better.."

"I'll leave."

"As long as were clear. Now go to sleep." he said before getting up and leaving the room.

Rinoa had no idea where she'd go after she left here, but she decided not to think for a while. She decided just to lay back down and close her eyes.

-----------------

Just as Squall had said he would, he literally did get her out of his life as soon as he could. However he was at least kind enough to give her some money for a hotel.

It was actually quite a large amount of money, but it seemed to be nothing to him. But unfortunately after about 2 weeks it ran out completely, leaving her with no choice but to get a job. And even more unfortunately the only job she could find was in some sleazy bar in a back alley. It was far from idea, but anything had to be better than going back to Timber.

She couldn't go back there…ever. She had had no choice but to run. She had gotten herself into way too much trouble back there. She owed a lot of money to a particular person. That debt was long overdue and the person was out to get her. That's why she had come to Deling, to escape. She would never be able to get together what she owed and she would no doubt be killed for it if this person ever caught her. That's why she had to work to stay in Deling.

But she hated the job.

The place was dirty and classless and she was felt up almost every night by some random drunk man. She felt disgustingly cheap most days, even if it wasn't her fault. She just couldn't seem to stay out of trouble. And it wasn't long before trouble found her again.

It was very late on a Friday night and there was just her and the odd few customers left in the bar. She leant down to collect the empty glasses from a table, but when she stood back up she felt someone grab her around the waist.

"Not again.." she whispered to herself.

"Lets have some fun" someone whispered in her ear.

"Please let go of me." She said as calmly as she could

"I don't think so." the guy laughed, sliding his hand up her shirt.

"Stop it, Please." she begged.

"You think you're calling the shots bitch?" he said forcing her down to the ground "you'll do whatever I tell you to."

"I…."

"Cant you just take no for an answer?" came another voice form behind her.

The guy turned round to see who had said it.

"What's your problem?" he asked

"You. I think you should get out of here."

"Who the hell you think you are?"

"Just leave the girl alone."

The guy laughed "What, she your girlfriend?"

"Hell no."

"then this doesn't concern you."

"Look, I'm telling you nicely to leave. I can be a lot less nice though, so I suggest you leave now."

"You still didn't tell me who the hell you are."

"Squall Leonhart."

Rinoa just knew it. Just her luck. Anyone but him….

"Y-your Squall Leonhart?" the guy said. Then he muttered something under his breath and stormed off. So, clearly Squall had some kind of reputation.

Rinoa felt too ashamed to actually face Squall, so she just stayed looking at the ground. She was already critical of herself for allowing herself into such awkward position, she didn't need him judging her too.

"You are so unbelievable. Do you look for trouble?"

"I…"

"What the hell are you even doing in a place like this.? You need money that bad?"

Rinoa couldn't believe he was judging her, its not like he was remotely close to perfect. Or sane.

"Yes, I really do."

"Then you should start taking better care of yourself. Or god knows how you'll end up. You're not cut out for this kinda thing. Go home Rinoa."

"I cant go back to Timber" she said quietly

"Why is that?" rather annoyingly, he sounded more amused than concerned.

"I just cant."

At that moment, the owner of the bar walked over to them, looking less than impressed.

"Leonhart" he hissed "I barred you here years ago remember."

"and I look like I care..?"

Had a complaint form a customer bout you too princess" he said to Rinoa

"I…I didn't do anything."

"Exactly. You're way to uptight and anyway…bringing the likes of him in here" he shook his head "I don't need it. You're out of here."

"What?" Rinoa cried "No! I need this job!"

"Tough look babe." the guy shrugged "Now get out of here, both of you."

Rinoa could not believe it. Fired? Now she was completely and totally stuck.

She ran outside and sat down on the ground, crying.

"You got me fired!" She yelled at Squall, who followed her out.

"like hell I did, its nothing to do with me."

"It is. It was your fault!" She sobbed "you should have just…"

"Just what? Just stood there and let that guy rape you so you could keep your job. Your stupider than I thought."

"What am I supposed to do now? I have no money, no job, no place to go." she sobbed pulling her knees into her chest "I deserve this…I'm being punished" she whispered.

"Whatever" squall sighed, rolling his eyes "Look. You can stay with me, for a few days. But I mean a few."

"okay." she nodded. It wasn't ideal. She didn't like this guy very much, let alone trust him. But she had no other option.

Taking her back to where he lived, he gave her a room and food. Having not eaten for a while, she was grateful of this. And while she ate she happened to catch Squalls conversation with his friends.

"So, she's like living here now?" Irvine was saying

"Don't be stupid." Squall said "She's staying a few days. I don't think I could I put up with her much longer than that."

"I feel sorry for her." Selphie said "poor girl."

"Whatever. Just keep an eye on her for the next few days, until I find a way to get rid of her." Squall said, ending the conversation

Selphie then came in the room "you done eating?"

Rinoa nodded.

"Alright, you can take a shower before you go to sleep if you like."

Rinoa was all to glad to take Selphie up on her offer and after being directed to one of many bathrooms she stood under the hot water for nearly an hour, just letting the water wash everything away.

But coming out off the bathroom, she bumped into the Squall in the hallway. And she immediately felt herself blush, not only because at the time she was only wearing a towel, but because he was actually not wearing a shirt.

"Hi…I ….umm……" was all she managed to say, while trying to keep her eyes on the floor, not his chest. "um….."

Damn why did she always mess everything up. Why did he have to be so damn hot."

Squall just smirked at her in a knowing way, winked and then walked down the hallway.

Rinoa went back into the room she was given and sat on the bed. She changed back into the clothes she had been wearing, then as she sat there she just thought about everything that had happened. It was too much, it was all too much, and she just started to cry. But then suddenly, something even worse happened. She felt her breath start to catch in her throat and become short, so much so that it was an incredible struggle to breathe. Panic attacks. She had had them on and off since she was younger. They would just come and go, differing in severity, but this one felt like a pretty harsh one.

She had no idea what today, she knew she needed to calm down, she just didn't know how.

"Hey" Selphie said "I heard you crying, is….woah, what's wrong?" she asked, running over to her

But Rinoa couldn't speak at all.

"Whats going on?" Irvine said coming into the room.

"I don't know!" Selphie said "…Get Squall!"

Squall. Why did they have to get Squall? That would probably only make things worse. And Rinoa was right it did, because a few seconds later Irvine came back into the room with Squall who this time was just wearing a towel wrapped round his waist and had water dripping down his hair and chest. He had obviously just got out of the shower or something, but when Rinoa saw him she just found it became even harder to breath.

"What happened?" he asked Selphie

"I don't know..she was just like this……." Selphie said, sounding worried

"I think…shes having a panic attack or something." Irvine commented

"Great" Squall sighed "fucking fantastic". He sat down on the bed by Rinoa and placed one hand either side of her face "Listen to me Rinoa, you need to clam down, you need to breathe."

"I…I…."

"Come on Rinoa, focus. Just focus on one thing, don't think about anything else. Just focus, breathe."

Rinoa, for some reason, felt herself becoming slightly calmer, and it became slightly easier to breath. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and just concentrated on his voice and gradually she felt herself return to normal.

"You okay now" he asked.

Oddly Rinoa almost could swear she detected…concern in his voice.

"I think so….thank you."

"No problem. You should get some rest."

Rinoa nodded, and once everyone was gone she lay down and closed her eyes. Why was everything always so complicated?

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_Hmmm. Hope y'all liked it. So what do we see this chapter…Rinoa has some secrets and maybe squall isn't as bad as he seems, he might have a caring side…does he? Lol you find out more next chapter, as well as more about Rinoa and her problem. Hope you liked it, let me know guys thanks x _


	6. Stuck Nowhere

_Disclaimer: I dont own ff8._

_A/N: Hey. Another chapter! Sorry it took a little while, but here it is! So much thanks to all those who reviewed last chapter and I hope you like this one ! X_

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"Get up." Selphie said, walking into the room and opening the curtains, suddenly bathing the room in light.

"What?" Rinoa murmured sleepily, "What's going on?"

"Squall told me to keep an eye on you for today."

"That's nice I guess." Rinoa yawned.

"Not really." Selphie sighed, "He just couldn't be bothered to do it himself."

"Alright." Rinoa didn't really mind, she was just happy to have somewhere to stay.

"So what do you need?" Selphie asked.

"Well, I don't have anything. Any clothes or anything at all…"

"Ahh." Selphie grinned, "Makeover!"

"W-what?"

"Makeover! You can have some of my stuff and I'll give you a total make over!"

Rinoa was taken aback by this young girls demeanour. At first she had seemed so serious like Squall and the others, but now she seemed so normal and young. She actually looked quite young, then again so did Squall. It really was impossible to guess how old these people were because their appearances and most of their actions seemed to clash completely. Selphie looked around her age, and Squall couldn't have been much older either. Rinoa would guess he was maybe 23,24..pretty young. But that of course made her wonder how someone so young got so messed up.

Selphie pulled Rinoa along the corridor to her room, and flung open her wardrobes. "Alright." she muttered "What should you wear…?"

"Um Selphie." Rinoa said a little nervously

"Yeah?"

"How do you and Irvine and Squall and Zell all know each other? Is this like…a gang?"

"A gang?" Selphie laughed a little, "Not exactly. We're all…old friends."

"How long have you guys known each other?"

"Must be about..9 years now."

Rinoa was surprised, 9 years was a very long time, she couldn't even remember the people she knew 9 years ago. Still it didn't really explain how they were involved in the kind of thing they were involved in. Rinoa could not forget that she only knew these people because they had kidnapped her.

"What is going on with you guys…and that Seifer guy? I mean…you kidnapped me because you thought I was his girlfriend"

"Seifer? You don't want to go there" Selphie said shaking her head "I've known him almost as long as I've known Irvine and the others. Him and Squall…they hate each other."

Rinoa figured that much, but it didn't really give her much of an explanation as to what was going on.

"How old are you guys?' Rinoa couldn't help but ask.

"Well I'm 18. So are Irvine and Zell, but Squall is the oldest, he's 19."

19? Rinoa couldn't believe it! He did not look or act like he was 19. How had he become such a twisted person in so few years?

"Nineteen.." she echoed

"yeh yeh." Selphie said dismissively. "Perfect!" she then said, pulling out a black denim skirt and black blouse.

After Selphie had given her the clothes to get dressed, she sat down and started applying eyeliner and vast amounts of make up.

"Um…what are you doing?"

"Putting on make-up, making you look all nice."

Rinoa wasn't entirely sure of the point of what she was doing, but it was not like she had anything better to be doing. She didn't have anything in her life anymore.

"Selphie." Squall said, suddenly walking into the room, "Word please."

Selphie nodded and walked over to where he was standing in the corner of the room. Rinoa could only hear part of their conversation.

"Have you seen Irvine?" Squall said

"No, not today. He was gone this morning actually."

"Alright. Just tell him when he shows that I'm looking for him okay? How is she doing, anyway?"

"She seems alright. Ask her yourself."

"Hey, chick." he said, a little louder this time "You alright?"

Rinoa nodded, still blushing slightly the way she seemed to every time she saw this guy.

"Good. You look different." he observed before leaving the room "you look nice."

Rinoa then could not stop blushing at all, so much so that Selphie noticed.

"Are you blushing?" She giggled.

"No!" Rinoa protested

"Yes you are. Don't tell me, you have a thing for Squall?"

"No I don't."

"Please. It couldn't be more obvious. Cant say I blame you though, Squall's hot. And he kind of saved your life."

"He scares me." Rinoa admitted.

"He's not so bad really."

"But he's so cold."

"I suppose he seems that way. You cant really blame him though, the life he's had."

"What do you mean?" Rinoa asked curiously. It would have made sense that he had a bad life, that might explain how he'd gotten into such a weird situation.

"He doesn't talk about it all that much. I mean he used to be in this training Academy, Garden, but he got thrown out a few years ago, ever since then…well." Selphie trailed off "Never mind. Tell me about yourself."

"There's not much to tell."

"Didn't you come here form Timber? I don't understand why you don't go back there, Squall said you told him you have nowhere to go."

"I don't. I cant go back to Timber but I cant afford to stay in Deling anymore either and I doubt Squall is going to let me stay here forever, so I'm kind of screwed."

"Why cant you go back?"

"I just cant. It's a long story. But I really don't know what to do."

"Well I suppose I could try and talk to Squall see if he can be convinced to let you stay here. It could be worth a try. Besides it might be cool to have another girl around the place."

"Somehow I don't think it'll work. He hates me."

"Squall doesn't hate you. I don't think he really has any feelings on you. I'm sure if you just explained to him why your in trouble.."

"No, no way. I cant tell anyone that."

'Why?"

"Look back in Timber, I'm involved in some trouble with some very bad people so the less people I get involved the better…these people, they're dangerous Selphie."

"They probably are." Selphie said, standing up "Look I gotta go. But think about what I said. Because if anyone can help you, it's Squall."

Rinoa thought about that. Squall, from what she had seen of the way he was, seemed slightly on the dangerous side himself, maybe he could help her. But that would mean she would have to explain to him what was going on.

Aside form the fact that he probably wouldn't listen or care, she would then owe him more than she did now. Plus, as attractive as she did find him, she didn't actually wholly like him. He actually scared her, he didn't seem like a very nice person at all really. Besides, unless he was willing to give her all the money she needed, there wasn't much he could do. She felt pretty useless, sitting around all day doing nothing. It gave her too much time to think what would happen when the people after her found her. And eventually, they would find her.

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That night Rinoa was reluctantly dragged out to some random club. She had protested but Selphie had insisted, and it seemed she got her way, so here Rinoa was in some club with loud rock music and bright lights. She wasn't remotely used to this kind of thing, Timber was pretty quiet and it didn't help that Selphie and the others had gone off and left her sitting there by herself. Zell was around somewhere, Selphie and Irvine were dancing, and Rinoa noticed that Squall seemed to be just working his way around the room, with every girl he passed flirting with him.

There was something Rinoa did not like about this guy. Something about him wasn't right, it was like he didn't quite add up.

Then again, she couldn't help thinking about what Selphie had said about him, about him having a bad life…how bad?

As she sat there thinking about it all, as best she could over the loud music, Squall came over to her.

"You alright?" he asked her.

Rinoa nodded a little hesitantly. "Yeh, just not used to this kinda thing is all."

Squall laughed a little which actually surprised Rinoa. The only emotions she'd seen him show before were anger or complete indifference. Plus, she couldn't help but notice he had a very nice smile.

"Cute. But just relax, have some fun while your in the city, have a drink."

"I'm not old enough."

"Oh my god. Was your father a priest?"

"Huh? No, he was.."

"Forget it. By the way, I'm taking you home tomorrow."

"Home?"

"Back to timber."

"No, you cant! I don't have a home there."

"Well you don't have much of a choice. You cant stay with me and you cant be in Deling by yourself, so that's it."

"Squall…I…"

"Sorry." he said as he walked off "I've made up my mind."

That annoyed Rinoa endlessly. He'd made up his mind? Why did he get to decide what went on in her life? What was he going to do, force her back to Timber? But then one thing occurred to her, how could he do that if he didn't know where she was. She could just leave the club and go find a hotel or something, anything. He wouldn't be bale to find her, he wouldn't bother looking and then he couldn't make her go back.

That was what she had to do! It wasn't exactly gratitude, considering that Squall had saved her life, but she had no choice.

She stood up and tried to push her way through the crowds of people. As she did, someone grabbed her wrist, but she tried to shake it off and carry on. But with one sharp move, this person pulled her aside. She had no idea who it was, until they spoke.

" It's been a while Miss Heartilly. So I trust, given all this time, you have my Money now?"

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_Uh oh! Poor Rinoa! Kinda slow chapter I know but just a break before super drama in the next two! Hope you liked it and let me know what you think._


	7. Nowhere to run

_a/n: hi everyone! i am so sorry this took a while, i've had some stuff going on lately, but i'm back now and hoping to get this story back on track, so enjoy the chapter!_

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Rinoa froze up. They had found her. What was she supposed to do now? How could she get out of it this time?

"Let's go for a little walk Rinoa." the guy said dragging her towards the exit.

"I…I…" Rinoa stammered. But she didn't have anything to say. She knew this would happen eventually.

When he dragged her to the roadside, she saw there was a large black car parked there.

The person holding her grabbed her hair and opened the door, forcing her into the car.

Sitting there, surrounded by what looked like bodyguards, was the very man she owed money to.

"Zack…" she said nervously

"Well I'm glad you remember me. I was starting to think you'd forgotten all about me…and your little debt."

"No!" Rinoa replied immediately.

"Good. Because you know how stupid that would be don't you. So where's my money Rinoa?"

Rinoa noticed the car was now moving, although she had no idea where it was taking her. "I…I don't have it."

"I'm sorry what was that?"

"I don't have the money."

"I cant say I'm impressed Rinoa. Its been a while now. But obviously you thought you could just run away and hide and get away with it. But you're not going to."

Rinoa didn't know what to do or say. She couldn't change not having the money.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry isn't good enough this time. I've been fairly nice about this so far, but you've pushed it now. I want my money."

"I said I don't have it yet. I don't have any way of getting it."

"I don't care how you get it, just get it. You have a week."

"A week?? How am I supposed to get 20 grand in a week."

"I don't care in the slightest. Work for it, steal it, borrow it if you have to."

"I don't have anyone to borrow it from. I don't even have anywhere to live."

"Squall Leonhart."

"W-what?"

"Borrow it off him. Squalls got plenty of cash….oh don't look so surprised, I know you're involved with him somehow."

"Have you been…."

"watching every fucking move you make. And I know Squall, he has that kind of cash."

"You know him?"

"Yeah I know Squall. Not my favourite of people. But that isn't the point. The point is I want my money in a week."

"And what if I don't have it?"

The guy reached down and pulled a piece of long rope from seemingly nowhere and pulled her hair back before wrapping the rope tightly around her neck, so tight she could hardly breathe.

"I am sincerely hoping it wont come to that, but if it does you'll find yourself on the wrong side of me and believe me that is not something you want."

"I…cant breathe.." she gasped

"Believe me sweet, if a week passes and you still don't have my money you'll wish you weren't breathing." He then finally realeased the rope from round her neck and left her gasping for air.

"So, do we understand each other?"

"Yes. You'll get your money."

"Good. And don't try anything stupid. Don't try running away, hiding, going to the police or anything. Nobody can protect you."

"I know that. You'll get your money. Were do I find you?"

"oh, don't worry Rinoa, I'll find you" he then lifted a small black box from by his feet and opened the lid. Inside was a needle and a small glass bottle filled with some kind of liquid.

"Whats that?" Rinoa asked, terrified.

"Nothing to worry about Darling" he said taking the little bottle and filling the needle with the liquid from it. "Just a mild sedative."

Quickly and painfully Zack reached out , grabbed her arm and stabbed the needle into it. He pushed the needle down and under her skin and she could feel the liquid entering her blood stream and instantly she started feeling sick and dizzy.

"What…..what the hell..i-is going on.." she muttered.

After that her vision started to blur, and she could only vaguely make out one of the guys open the car door as the car stopped.

"See you in a week Miss Heartilly" Zack said before pushing her out of the car. The last thing she remembered was her head hitting the roadside before she blanked out completely…..

"Wake up!" Rinoa heard somebody say, as she started to come around again. She fought to flick her eyes open and saw she was lying by the roadside outside the place those guys had picked her up. She found herself staring up into the face of a complete stranger.

"Are you alright lady?" Said the young man

"I…I'm…I don't know" she muttered feeling dizzy and sick

"Should I call someone, the police or an ambulance?"

"No.." Rinoa protested weakly. She didn't want any authorities involved at all. "Could you take me …inside?"

"Okay, sure." the guy said looking slightly confused. He helped her up and half carried her into the club where she was hoping she would find Selphie, or at least Squall.

"Rinoa?" someone said, approaching them. Rinoa opened her eyes again to see squall, it was as if he had appeared just as she thought it.

"What's going on?" he asked

"You know her?" the stranger asked "She with you?"

"yeh, sort of. What happened?"

Rinoa noted that for once he actually sounded a little concerned.

"Man, I don't know, I found her like this outside in the street.." the guy said as he handed her over to Squall.

"Alright then." Squall said.

"Squall…" Rinoa said weakly, leaning against him for support "I….I…"

Squall took her over to one of the seats near the back wall "What the hell is going on?"

"My head hurts" she muttered.

"What's going on guys?" Irvine said, he and Selphie walking over.

"What happened to Rinoa?" Selphie asked, sounding worried.

"No idea, she's barely even conscious. I think she's on something."

"You reckon she's and addict?" Irvine asked.

Rinoa could hear the conversation, but parts of it were completely blurred and all the lights in the club moved about wildly making her headache more.

"I don't think she did it herself" Squall said, grabbing her arm. She shivered with pain when he ran his finger over the tiny hole left by the needle. "you can tell, it was done with force, someone drugged her up would be my guess, but shes not making any sense."

He ran his hand across her neck and lifted her hair out of the way "Holy hell, it looks like rope burns. Whatever the fuck happened to her tonight, it looks like serious stuff"

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Gradually, things became clearer and clearer to Rinoa as the mysterious effects of the drug began to wear off. By the time she came around completely, she was back sitting in a room at Squalls place. Someone had given her a glass of water which she was holding shakily in her hands. Selphie was sitting in front of her, constantly asking what was going on, and although Rinoa wanted to answer her, it was like she couldn't even begin to put it into terms. She couldn't quite phrase just how stupid she had been for getting herself into that situation. Selphie seemed so sympathetic, but maybe she didn't deserve any sympathy, it was her own fault after all. Somehow, she just couldn't say it, she couldn't say anything.

"How's it going?" Squall asked, walking into the room and leaning against the back wall. Rinoa couldn't help but notice that squall was just one of those people who had an incredible air of confidence and assuredness about them. He undoubtedly was aware of what effect he had on people. A lot of people would be intimidated by him, a lot of people would be attracted to him, but nobody would know what to expect. And that was what was most intimidating about him.

"She just wont say anything" Selphie sighed.

"This is pathetic" Squall said, rolling his eyes, and making his way over to Rinoa.

"Okay, look, I get that you have something going on and I get you haven't had a good night, or a good month really, but sitting in silence isn't doing anybody any good. I want to know what happened and you're going to tell me. As much as I hate it, it is kind of my concern so start talking."

"I don't know where to start." she said suddenly able to speak for some reason "it's all too much."

"Alright." he turned to his friends "Can you guys give us a minute?"

Selphie, Irvine, and Zell nodded, then left the room hesitantly.

"There, now you're not telling everybody. So stat talking…what happened to you tonight..?"

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_hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think and i'll update soon. _


	8. Tears and destruction

_a/n: Hello people. i hope you still remeber this story! I am very sorry foir the delay i had computer problems, then exam then like some crazy personal stuff going on. but regardless, here is the update! I hope you will enjoy it and give me some feedback, once again, my apologies for the delay. enjoy! And thanks for everyones support and reviews so far!_

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… "They found me."

"Who did?"

"The people…the people I owe money to. They found me and they want their money…but I don't have it. They threatened me…and they did… they did something, I don't know like…injected me with something and then I woke up all confused and now…I have a week."

Squall looked ever so slightly taken aback by it all. It was obviously not at all what he had expected from her.

"So you owe people money. I'm guessing it's a lot of money or these are some pretty serious people you're messing with, judging by what they did to you."

"Both" Rinoa said. She had never admitted to anyone what was going on before and it felt strange to tell someone she barely knew.

"Who are they?"

"This guy Zack, and…"

"Wait." Squall said, shaking his head "Not Zack Mancetti?"

"yeh….how did you know?"

"This has his name written al over it, its just his style."

"you know him?" Rinoa dimly remembered Zack saying he knew and disliked Squall.

"Yeah I know him, I used to work for him. That guy is disturbed. How an earth did you get involved with him?"

Rinoa couldn't answer, she was still a little thrown by Squalls comment that he used to 'work' for Zack. She knew what kind of things Zacks thugs did for him. Was that the kind of thing Squall did. Rinoa didn't doubt he was capable of it but it was strange she still felt completely safe around him.

"it was back in timber. It started off little you know, the usual. I got a little behind on the rent and Zack was kind of a friend of a friend. He just kept lending and lending and I kept going to him, but after a while I discovered his not so friendly side, it all started to add up. Kept sending his thugs after me, calling all the time, smashed up my apartment. So I ran and just kept running. But in the end he found me. And..he wants his money and theres no way I can get it."

"how much?"

"In total…15 grand."

"You know you're going to die right?"

Rinoa just couldn't say anything at all. Why would Squall say something like that?

"if you don't have that money, he will kill you. And it'll be nasty"

As hard as she tried to fight it, Rinoa burst into tears. "I don't know what to do, I just don't know anymore, I cant take this."

"Alright, I'll help you." he sighed.

Rinoa was utterly shocked. "H-how? Do you have that kind of money?"

"I do actually, but I'm not paying that jerk. I'll just stop him."

"What?…how?"

"how do you think? I know you're stupid, but you're not that stupid."

"You're gonna go after him??" Rinoa couldn't believe that. He was crazy. He'd get killed. She couldn't let that happen because of her, she knew she wasn't worth it.

"Yes, I am."

"You cant" she said through her tears "he's too dangerous"

"he's not getting away with this shit anymore. Besides, I'm dangerous too."

"you can't be serious!" Rinoa said, instantly standing up. This was insane. Regardless of how tough Squall thought he was, he'd said it himself, Zack was disturbed and he hated squall anyway. This was bound not to end well. In tears and destruction. Death probably.

"of course I'm serious. Come on, lets go."

"Go where? How do you even know where he'll be?"

"Trust me, I know."

"Squall." Rinoa grabbed hold of his arm before he headed out of the door "don't be crazy, I don't want to get you killed."

Squall shrugged of her grip on him then grabbed both her wrists and pulled her towards him. Damn he was strong.

"I'm not going to get killed, I can take this guy. And this is your only option unless you happen to have that money…"

"no, but…"

He placed his hands on the red marks around her neck " you think this is bad?…It's nothing. If you don't give him his money…I've seen it before. When he's done with you, you wont even be able to be identified." there was an edge of sadness and pain in his voice for just a second " I don't want that to be you okay?"

"okay" She said weakly. "I just don't want either of us to get hurt."

"We wont, I promise."

"He said if he ever saw me again, and I didn't have his money…"

"you'll be fine, I'll be there to protect you. Now lets get going. Lets get it over with."

Rinoa felt oddly reassured by him, for some inexplicable reason, and she was trusting him more but she wasn't sure this idea was very smart. Regardless though, it seemed best to do what he advised so she followed him outside to his car.

His incredibly expensive looking car she noted. It was one of those vintage styles convertible cars and Rinoa had to wonder how in hell a 19 year old could afford such a car How did he afford his life? Rinoa was pretty sure he did not have a job, at least not a legitimate one.

"Why doesn't Zack like you?" Rinoa asked, once they were driving. "He told me he knew you well, but you don't get on so to speak."

"Like I said, I used to work for him. When I first came here to Deling, I was a bit like you I didn't really have anywhere to go or anything to do. Then, I came across Zack and he gave me a job. Basically he paid me to do his dirty work, collect his debts, stuff like that. But after a while, I'd had enough of it all, I had enough money by then so I told him our little arrangement was done, through. He want happy of course, sent his thugs after me. So I killed them."

"You killed them?" Rinoa echoed. Suddenly she felt so much less safe. She was in the car with a murderer.

" I had no choice. Kill or be killed. That's just the way it is. I guess it's a whole different world to what you are used to."

"Definitely" Rinoa said uneasily.

"you're afraid of me aren't you?" Squall said, looking more amused than anything else.

"Yes, I am."

"Don't be. As long as you don't ever cross me I have no reason to hurt you."

"But you must hate me. For messing up you're life."

"My lifes messed as it is. I don't really care enough to hate you, but I know this shit is to dangerous for you."

Suddenly something occurred to Rinoa. Was this what had happened with Squall? Had he started off mixed up in something by chance and then just descended into this world of hate and violence. Would she end up that way too? Would she turn out to be like him. Or just end up dead?

Rinoa was so lost in her thoughts, she only started paying attention again when Squall spoke. And what he said made her feel more nervous and scared than she had ever felt before.

"We're here."

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_Well, i hope you enjoyed! let me know some thoughts on it. And next chapter they confront Zack..two words. BIG DRAMA hahahaha _


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